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Argos beat Blue Bombers 25-22 in come-from-behind nail-biter

A 37-yard pass with two minutes to go in a back-and-forth game denied the Bombers their first season win.

Argo quarterback Ricky Ray hands off to Cory Boyd during the CFL season matchup between Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Rogers Centre on Wednesday. The Argos beat the Bombers 25-22. (RICK MADONIK / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

By Bob MitchellSports Reporter

Thu., July 19, 2012

It was a long time coming — 22 games — but Argos’ slotback Chad Owens finally caught a touchdown pass.

The 37-yard toss to Owens from quarterback Ricky Ray with 31 seconds to go in the first half on Wednesday night gave Toronto an 18-13 half-time lead. But Toronto needed another 37-yard pass — this one to wide receiver Jason Barnes with two minutes to go — to squeak out a 25-22 victory.

For Owens, it was a game of relief. For Barnes, it was a game when he finally displayed the go-to talent for which he was brought to Toronto to show as a key off-season free agent signing.

“We game planned that (TD pass). We ran a version of it earlier and saved that one for the end,” said Barnes, who finished 72 yards on four catches.

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Another bomb sailed over his head with less than three minutes to go. “That one we drew up in the dirt,” Barnes said. “We just missed that one by a little bit.”

The play that led to the winning score was suggested by Ray to coach Scott Milanovich on the sidelines before they went back onto the field.

“Ricky is unflappable. We don’t play the well the entire second half, and he stands in the pocket and moves the ball down the field on that last scoring play. He hits Dontrelle Inman (27 yards) on a big play.

“He takes the next one in the mouth and then completes one to Spencer Watt and then delivers one to Barnes for the TD,” Milanovich said. “He never panics.”

Ray didn’t have his best game in this sluggish nail biter but he marched 74 yards on five plays to fire the dagger into the Winnipeg hearts with the winning toss to Barnes, a player he knows well from their Edmonton days.

That strike took away what had seemed would be the Blue Bombers’s first victory of the season. Instead Winnipeg returns home winless in four while the Argos evened their record to 2-2.

Despite his first TD catch since Oct. 29, 2010, Owens was nearly the goat in what could have been a bittersweet night for him. His fumble at the Argos’ 30-yard line when the ball bounced off his chest as he ran for a punt return in the fourth quarter nearly cost the Argos dearly.

It led to a 38-yard field goal by Justin Palardy to put Winnipeg ahead. Soon after that, a 45-yard field goal gave the Bombers a 22-18 lead with 4:11 left on the clock.

“I didn’t play my best on special teams,” Owens admitted. “But, man, it was a big relief to get that touchdown. It was a simple play, a double move. Jevon Johnson bit on it. It was really a pitch and catch. It felt so good to finally get in there. It’s been too long. I believe I’m better than that.

“But the bottom line is we won, and even if I didn’t get the TD we won the game. That’s more important. Our defence did a helluva job.”

For much of the second half, Ray couldn’t generate any offence in a game played before an announced crowd of 22,485 at the Rogers Centre.

Toronto also dodged a bullet late in the third quarter. With four minutes to play, Ray was intercepted by Justin Doel when his pass for Barnes was tipped by a Bombers’ defender at the line. Bell returned it 37 yards to Toronto’s 13-yard line. But Winnipeg pivot Alex Brink was levelled by DE Rickey Foley, and Winnipeg settled for a 22-yard field goal by Palardy.

Ray threw for 325 yards and three TDs, including a seven-yard TD pass to tailback Cory Boyd that gave Toronto an early 7-0 lead.

Brink, now the No. 1 thrower for Winnipeg (Buck Pierce is gone for a month with a foot injury), ran in for a one-yard score second-quarter score. He finished with just nine completions in 39 attempts for 185 yards and was intercepted twice, by Jordan Younger and Robert McCune.

Argos slotback Andre Durie dropped two first quarter passes, one with nothing but daylight ahead of him as he split the secondary, but he caught a 50-yard pass in the second before being hauled down at the Bombers’ 11 yard line.

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